This dissertation draws on criminology, social and developmental psychology and urban sociology in order to understand how contextual, situational and individual characteristics contribute to young people's relationships with and attitudes toward the police. The study's key question is: is ethnicity salient for understanding people's views of the police in Hackney? In answering this question, I adopt Bronfenbrenner's (1979) systemic framework, which proposes that the developing individual is embedded within a complex structure of influences that shape perceptions and behaviours. This mixed-methods study examines different aspects of the relationships between the police and ethnic minorities in the London Borough of Hackney using qualitative (interviews with community leaders and focus groups with secondary school pupils) and quantitative (surveys) research methods. I explore different levels of association with the police (community and individual) based on the understanding that cultures and historical attitudes influence community/police relationships. I also explore different modes of contact (direct and vicarious) within different settings (neighbourhood and school). I examine the applicability of the 'race and ethnicity' paradigm in explaining current police/minority dynamics by taking a nuanced view of these often artificially broadened categories. I consider other influences, such us social groupings and history of migration as well as community assets of collective efficacy and organisational capacity. The empirical work presented here links knowledge construction about the police to identity processes in order to help understand communities' attitudes generally, and children's specifically. As such, it provides insight into the process of legal socialisation. I explore the relationship between general attitudes about the police (in schools under the Safer School Partnerships scheme and in neighbourhoods) and specific attitudes, including police legitimacy, treatment, performance and pupils' willingness to help them (Tyler, 2006). I find that ethnic background has a limited relationship to general attitudes toward the police, with the exception of Black African pupils, indicating that the use of knowledge about the police interacts with identity development processes for some but not for others. Age, social capital, pupils' association with crime and contact with the police are more reliably related to attitudes toward the police. Surprisingly, I find that migrant pupils and those who are recipients of free meals hold more positive attitudes to the police in school than their counterparts. I find that young people's opinions of the police are more strongly linked to school police officers' performance than fair treatment. While this is a case study, it has implications for theory, practice and policy beyond Hackney, specifically relating to police legitimacy and policing ethnic minorities and young people in ethnically diverse locales.

Located in eastern London and beside the Olympic legacy there is this knotty hood, called Hackney Wick. A public realm has been proposed in the London Borough of Hackney local development masterplan for this neighbourhood. The project is a communal hall settled in the heart of this town context, has been challenged to tie with the dodgy surroundings. Coming from Olympic park, passing over the separating river and going to Victoria Park, is the main walking and cycling path. Also having the bus route on the same side, makes the northern side more exposed to the people. Facing the northern side of the site is the overground which generates views from the train to the project. As a result, in all the studied schemes, it has been tried to have a big opening looking towards this side. Observing the whole hood, you will find out the context is dominated by typical London brick walls, mostly filled with graffiti arts. This creates a special character for the area, and at the same time brings out some dodgy views. So the idea was to get benefit of the existing wall in the boundary of the site, as a tool to block the ugly views and create an inner paradise, and at the same time, with the aim of the brick nature of that wall, relate to the character of the context. However eventually, it ended up to propose to rebuild the wall with reused bricks, and cover the new added parts in white plaster. So finally, there would be this perception as if there is a new object over the existing, and the old brick wall remains at the bottom exposed to graffiti arts and keeps the same nature as it used to have.

Grassroots urban agriculture projects are highly interactive spaces, allowing people from different socio-cultural and economic backgrounds to learn, play and work together. They offer unconventional urban greenspace and recreational opportunities and contribute to urbanites’ understanding of how food is grown. Landscape architects can contribute numerous professional strengths to the design of these food-oriented landscapes. Case study research at Hackney City Farm, UK, and Prinzessinnengarten, Germany, illustrates that grassroots projects could benefit from a strong spatial design and increased layering of on-site uses in order to serve a greater cross-section of the community than at present. This research culminates in the design of a multifunctional food-oriented landscape at Brant Avenue Public School, Guelph, and is shaped by the case study findings and literature on participatory design and facilitation. The research demonstrates how landscape architects can work with community groups to provide a high diversity of on-site uses and user experience.